Monster hail smacked Colorado and may set a size record
Parts of Colorado got walloped by storms and some seriously gnarly hail this week.
All it took was golf ball-sized hail to total my Prius. That was brutal enough, so I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around hail that's as long as a roll of toilet paper.
The National Weather Service offices in Boulder, Colorado, and Goodland, Kansas, near the Colorado border are both looking into reports of near-record-size hail from storms this week.
Colorado KKTV meteorologist Brian Bledsoe on Tuesday posted photos of massive hailstones collected near Bethune, Colorado, and said he's working on verifying the size of the hail, which could end up beating the state's record of 4.5-inch (11-centimeter) ice chunks.
@NWSBoulder @NWSGoodland I am verifying what looks to be a record setting hailstone for #cowx Am told this fell near Bethune this afternoon. Would easily beat the 4.5" record... Given the way the radar looked, I wouldn't be surprised. Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/LiUazILn6r
— Brian Bledsoe (@BrianBledsoe) August 13, 2019
We are still trying to verify the largest hailstone that fell near Otis in Washington county. We do have a picture that was just over 4" in diameter. The state record is 4.5". See https://t.co/D9uKuZSmhf #cowx #cohail
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) August 13, 2019
The current Colorado state hail size record has been set and met many times, most recently in Adams County in 2011.
Large hail also fell near the small town of Otis in northeastern Colorado on Sunday. The weather service office in Boulder is investigating that hail. "We do have a picture that was just over 4 inches in diameter," the office tweeted on Monday.
The NWS Goodland office jumped into the fray with an eye-popping image shared on Tuesday of a hailstone that looks as big as a softball.
We also received this picture as a facebook comment on one of our facebook posts of hail from Bethune. We've asked them to save the hail stone by freezing it but haven't heard a response yet. pic.twitter.com/6BmiEXIyVz
— NWS Goodland (@NWSGoodland) August 13, 2019
The Colorado Climate Center is helping out with record verifications for the hailstones. The organization tweeted out tips for preserving hail, starting with only gathering samples when it is safe to do so. Take photos with a ruler or an object of a known size, avoid heating the stone with your hands and place it in the freezer alone in a plastic bag as soon as possible.
We hope to find out sometime this week if any of these icy behemoths broke the Colorado state record. Just be grateful they didn't fall on your car.
This hail storm totaled my car in 2018.
